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IDLE HANDS test screening review...

Published at:  Oct 17, 1998 4:22:16 AM CDT

SPOILER ALERT !!

Ok, take the idea of the sequence in EVIL DEAD 2 where Bruce Campbell's right hand (I think that's right) is possessed and turn it into a feature film starring a buncha SCREAM-AGERS and bam ya have a movie. Is it any good? Well shucks you'll have to read to find that out. Remember though, this is just the opinion of one fella (just for the record the gent didn't care for the latest Trek film as well, if that helps you to gauge his tastes) So onto the review....

Wanted to send you a review of the film IDLE HANDS, a 'comedy about a
boy who finds that his hand has been possessed by the devil and is
committing mass murder'.

I'm not kidding. That's what the film is about. I went to a screening
of this gem of a film Tuesday night. While I was standing in line for
that, I was asked whether I wanted to go and see Star Trek the next
night. In order to do so, however, I'd have to wait until the end of
the film and get my passes from the lady after I was done with my
'report' to the screening folk.

It was only those passes that let me even THINK about staying past the
first ten minutes. Had I known that I would then see ST and hate it, I
could have saved myself 4 hours of my life and skipped both. The trials
of trying to see GOOD movies.

Spoilers below. Beware.

So this movie begins with two well-known TV stars (One from Real People,
one from the Torkelsons) as Mom and Dad. They get into bed and turn off
the light, only to scream when they see that someone has painted "I am
under the Bed" in glow-in-the-dark paint. VERY original. They both
die.

Then we find the hero of the film, a stoner who has no life and fails to
notice his parents are dead (AND in the living room) for several days.
We eventually meet his best friends, and the girl he apparently has true
love for (this is important, because that true love saves her from being
cast into hell. I am not making this up).

When his two friends come over, he kills them. Why? Because his hand
has apparently been possessed by the devil. It attacks on its own,
while still connected to him. Now the actor playing this kid had some
great physical ability--the hand DID seem to have a life of its own.
Too bad the script didn't.

Eventually we meet Vivica Fox, who plays a Druidic Princess who knows
what is actually going on with this possession, and why it is happening,
and how to stop it. She hooks up at one point with a Heavy Metal,
tattooed punk who actually recognizes that the music just uses Demonic
phrases and images because it appeals to kids like him, and of course,
they all try and figure out how to stop the evil demon-possessed hand.

You see, Idle Hands are the devil's playthings. Get it?

This IS meant to be a humorous horror film. I will give them that.
Unfortunately, it's not a GOOD humorous horror film. It's just long.
Stupid. Dumb. And unoriginal.

More than that, it makes up the rules as it goes along. And while that
can be fun (Army of Darkness for instance)--the writing has to be CLEVER
for that creation to be believed. Here, I just wondered who in the hell
paid MONEY to make this movie?

And while I'm on it, who in their right MIND let the director of
Dawson's Creek make this movie? The man is obviously a filmic idiot.
The movies wasn't done creatively. It wasn't done to even play with the
stereotypes of horror movies. It was just shot like a TV show. Masters
and close-ups.

The only good thing in this movie was the love interest. She was
incredibly cute. We never got to see her naked, dammit, but at least I
could pay attention when she was on the screen. And the scene where our
hero (see? I can't even remember their names, it was so dumb)--the
scene where our hero stops his hand from killing the girl by tying it to
her bedpost--and then she believes that to be kinky and sleeps with
him--that scene was funny.

The rest of the film was not. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

Unless, of course, you are one of those people who can only have one
thought in their head at a time. I sat next to two of them through this
movie. Every time someone would say, "Let's go kill the hand!" they
would say, "Dude! They're gonna go and kill the hand!" They loved this
movie. And they were asked to stay afterwards and talk to the director.



Can anyone else but me see why movies SUCK these days? The IDIOTS next
to me are what they are hoping to make the movies for. Perhaps
Paramount showed ST Insurrection to these two, as well. That would
explain why THAT movie sucked, too.

That's it. Idle Hands is something you will, if you have ANY brains in
your head, avoid--at least until it hits video. Then you can go and
watch the cute babe. Me, I'm gonna contact the company that made it and
get her name and cast her in something a little more private...

Hey, Call me Insurrection Blues...reporting to you live, from downtown
Hollywood.



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    Readers Talkback

  • Oct 17, 1998 10:00:26 AM CDT

    A Fine Idea

    by clarence beaks

    I'd actually like it if Insurrection Blues (which has to be one of the worst handles in recent memory) would send me $9.00 for every movie I see, because then he'd actually be useful. As for JiveT's plea, I personally believe that the world would be a better place if everyone would begin their day by watching Boyz N The Hood. That way, everybody would leave the house trying to find ways to "increase the peace." Just yesterday, I increased the peace by declining the measly penny of change that was due me after purchasing a delicious cup of coffee. Now, when someone comes up a penny short when they attempt to buy a delicious cup of coffee, their purchase will be ensured by my penny: ergo, they won't storm off without their coffee and strangle an old woman. Thanks to my actions, the peace has officially been increased!

    Reply to Talkback

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